Numb
by thenote
Summary: ...how far will she go to make him feel again, without becoming frozen herself...? -SasuSaku--Happens during and after current manga-
1. Chapter 1

…**numb**.

_by __**thenote**_

-o-

…

…

…

**_Don't find love, let love find you. That's why it's  
called falling in love, because you don't force  
yourself to fall, you just fall._**

~ Unknown ~

…

…

…

-o-

_This is _**THE END**_._

That was the relief filled thought which took her strawberry minted breath away.

…but she was wrong.

-o-

It was only the beginning.

-o-

* * *

~**Chapter Onze**~

o*o*o* _**her free fall**_*o*o*o

* * *

(Thud-

_BAM!_

-thud.)

The sun's brilliant rays danced across the horizon, as a warm fire spread across the sky. Night would come soon and drape itself across the sky, causing darkness to enfold. Just the thought made her hurry more.

Her bare, drenched feet trudged across the shattered pieces of stone, which once formed a magnificent marble floor on which only the feet that belonged to the most powerful people had stepped on. Today, beggars, peasants, low ranked genin, and some of the most incapable medical ninja crowded the small area, examining its destruction, probing around for any injured or missing ninja that the remaining mutts hadn't already scouted out. The ones scouting were the only ones able to do it at the time—the rest of the shinobi from the closer villages had been either fatally injured or unconscious .

Soft jade eyes wildly scanned the area searching frantically for the two things that kept her sane—she could not afford to lose even _one_ of them.

Her sanity depended on it.

-o-

"Sakura-chan!" a strident, very youthful voice bellowed from somewhere inside the throng. A bruised rosette's head whipped around fast enough to give her a whip lash. However, the small pain she felt was ignored as she raced back to a shattered piece of stone where the owner of the voice was waiting for her.

"Lee," she panted, "what is it? Did you get any news of what happened to Naruto?" after a pause she added, "…or Sasuke?"

A very…erm, glittery, and shimmering grin spread across her face which caused a small smile to sneak up on her own.

"Yes! Some medical ninja and Kiba-kun found him crushed under a fragment of stone a couple miles away!" he said cheerfully. The news caused her to gasp, and put a palm to her mouth. Seeing her worried reaction he rushed, "Oh no, no! He's in a stable condition—he was just knocked out from chakra depletion."

Sighing in content, she placed a hand to her heart. After a few heartbeats, she whispered, "…and what about…Sasuke?" she shifted her gaze so she would be looking at the ground.

Silence.

And then—

_Poof!_

"They found him, in a pool of his own blood, unconscious…" it wasn't Lee's reassuring voice that answered, it was a cold, hard voice from none other than her own former teacher—Kakashi.

-o-

Beams of light shot in though the holes in her tattered tent. Carefully, one pale eyelid reopened for the first time in five days, revealing a cold, amber pupil. Suddenly, a barrage of voices and questions echoed around her, causing her to clutch her blond head.

"Hokage-sama!"

"She's awake!"

"Should we get a medic?"

"How are you Hokage-sama?"

"Stop crowding her! She needs fresh air, so get out of the tent." Was the only voice she recognized at the moment.

Slowly, she slid herself up, and rubbed her eyes. "Shizune?" she rasped out, "What happened? Did Pein die? Wha-What happened to Naruto?" amber eyes flashed around the room panicking, until she caught sight of her assistant sighing with a small smile on her face.

"Tsunade-sama," she began, "everyone is fine. It was Naruto who saved all of us, and brought the rest of us back to life. Pein is dead, and Konoha is safe." She smiled softly.

Tsunade sighed in content, as she weaved her pale hand through her sunny, blond locks.

"But," the small smile Shizune had placed on her face was replaced by a frown, as she bit the bottom of her lip hard enough to make it bleed.

The hand stopped weaving, as smoldering amber eyes gazed heavily on the woman beside them. "But what, Shizune? What else happened that I am not aware of?" she hissed gruffly. "What is it?!"

"They replaced you with Danzo…" she whispered, shrinking back.

"WHAT?!"

(_BOOM!_)

-o-

In the recuperating village of Konoha…

"WHAT!?"

(_BOOM!_

Newly built, wooden houses break.

Other houses practically jump.)

"Roku…What was that?" a frightened chunnin shivered at the broken gates.

"I don't know Lin…I think it was an earthquake…" the other whispered. And then they remained shaking, waiting for an older jounin to take their place.

-o-

"THOSE OLD HAGS HAVE FINALLY LOST THEIR MINDS—"

"Tsunade-sama, please calm down…Danzo is—"

"—WHAT ARE THEY DOING?! DO THEY REALLY WANT KONOHA DESTROYED!?"

"Please, lower your voice…The villagers—"

"AND THE VILLAGERS! DID THOSE BASTARDS EVEN THINK ABOUT WHAT THEY WANTED-WHAT THEY _NEEDED_?! THEY NEED A L-E-A-D-E-R—NOT A DICTATOR!"

"TSUNADE-SAMA!" Shizune bellowed, finally shutting up her master. Taking a couple deep breaths, she glanced around the tent and few, newly built buildings that the former Hokage had just destroyed. She winced at the thought of how much damage she could have done, if she had all of her strength and health back…

"What is it Shizune? You shouldn't raise your voice like that—it might give the villagers a wrong impression." Tsunade raised her eyebrow, and folded her arms across her chest.

"Tsunade-sama…Danzo is dead." Shizune said softly.

Tsunade's eyes brows furrowed, as she put a thin finger under her chin. "Danzo is dead…? What happened?"

"While you were unconscious, the five kages had a meeting..." Shizune winced when she glanced at her master's balled up fist. "During the meeting, Uchiha Sasuke and three other unidentified members of Akatsuki attacked the meeting—their goal was to kill the kages."

"Uchiha Sasuke?! He became part of the Akatsuki?!" she stammered.

"Yes…That was one of the reasons why the Raikage had come to the meeting; he wanted Sasuke dead because of the Uchiha had kidnapped his brother, the host of the eight-tails.

When the Akatsuki attacked, some kind of conversation had erupted between the Uchiha and Danzo during their battle, while the other kages had escaped. Sometime in between, Naruto and another Akatsuki member, who we now know is Madara, showed up sometime in between."

"Madara?!" Tsunade gaped, "He died years ago!"

"That is what everyone else thought, however we were wrong. It seems that something Naruto said, stopped the Uchiha from killing everyone. Other than that, we have no idea how the battle really ended.

It seems that Danzo's body has already been destroyed by a fire, and Madara's has disappeared as well. The kages have been taken to our medical center to be healed, and Naruto is living off of a chakra-supplying machine." Shizune ended sighing as she placed her nimble hands onto her lap.

"…And Sasuke?" Tsunade's voice was barely above a whisper.

"….he was brought back to Konoha, unconscious with his new team trailing behind to make sure that he was alright."

"Is he still alive?"

Silence.

-o-

"...Hm? What did you say Kakashi-sensei? I couldn't hear you?" Sakura mumbled, tilting her head and placing a frown on her pale, flawless face.

Kakashi sighed, placing a glove covered hand behind his head. "I think you should go see Naruto." he smiled a little, however, the smile did not meet his murky, onyx eye.

Sakura smiled softly and whispered a barely audible, "Hai!" and disapeared with a _poof!_

Lee stared blankly at the spot that his object of affection had just been at before vanishing. "Kakashi-sensei...Is what you said about Sasuke-kun true?" he looked up to see his teacher's rival staring at the dancing lights on the horizon. His large, fuzzy eyeborws furrowed as he waited for a deligent answer, or just a carefully picked out word.

"Lee, go home. We can take care of the rest here." Kakashi ordered, not sparing him a glance.

"Hai..." he whispered, frowning with droopy eyelids before leaving in another poof!

Kakashi tilted his head up, his gaze resting on the bleeding sky. He could only wish that the information he had given wasn't true...

-o-

_**'I have finally become a real shinobi.**_

_**but not a real human being.**_

_**Shinobi were never humans.**_

_**they were merely tools.**_

**_.killing machines._**

_**and that is why **_

_**they are all**_

_**numb.'**_

-o-

* * *

**Disclaimer:** _Sadly, I do not own anything Kishimoto owns. If I did…this story would be moving a lot faster._

**_Time Period: Takes place after Sasuke's battle with the Kages and after the manga- meaning everything is_** "SUPPOSED**_" to be fine when it's over._**

**A/N:** Hey guys! How are you people?! Ugh, the manga is really pissing me off nowadays, so I decided to fast-forward this to make a SasuSaku story. But it's not going to be an easy one where he comes back, sees how much she has changed, looks at her figure and falls in love. Nope. Those stories are too unoriginal and boring—I mean where's the thrill in those?

The title refers to what a man becomes after the things the world has molded into him. No person is ever born evil, they are only tainted and misguided by the teachings and enviorment they grow up in. The story is mainly SasuSaku, NaruHina, some ShikaTem, teeny weenie bit of SuiKar, a lil TenLeeNeji, and a bit of my new cute favorite couple--GaaMatsu.

Numb is going to be a very long multi-chapter story, and the title is based off of the song **Numb** by Linkin Park. I was listening to Numb, Leave out all the Rest, and New Divide by Linkin Park. And also the song, **Perfect in Weakness** by Flyleaf inspired this. All I can promise is that this is going to be a story worth waiting for.

**If you like making people's days, and like making them happy, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE REVIEW! Tell me if I should continue this story!**

Keep safe!

_-thenote_


	2. Chapter 2

…**numb**.

_by __**thenote**_

-o-

…

…

…

Love... What is love? Love is to love someone  
for who they are, who they were, and who they will be.

~ Chris Moore ~

…

…

…

-o-

**so **_**bliss**_

Her smile stretched miles and miles.

…too bad it wasn't real.

-o-

~**Chapter Deux**~

o*o*o* _his discontentment_*o*o*o

-o-

"Do you know where Naruto Uzumaki—" she panted, only to be interrupted.

"We all know who Naruto is. After all, he is our savior." The nurse chuckled gleefully.

"—which room is he in?" she rasped clutching the newly built counter. How the civilians and carpenters had built the small, yet sufficient hospital so fast was still a little baffling.

"Room 17. It's the hallway on my left, go straight down and the eighth room on the right side is his." The woman smiled, tilting her head slightly.

"Thanks." She muttered as she paced down the wooden hallway, the soft, luminous light, given off by the melting candles, danced alongside the walls. The faster she seemed to run, the farther away the door seemed to be. Her bare feet trudged across the hard wood floor, giving her splinters, as she cursed Yamato for being able to use Wood Ninjutsu instead of something softer, like cotton.

Finally, her feet brought her to her destination. The door stood straight, and bold like a titan taunting her. Chills ran and up her spine repeatedly, causing her to shiver. What was she going to tell the boy—no, _man_. He had done so much for them…for her. Yet, she was still unable to show her affection for him. She couldn't ever think of him more than a big brother—but what if she gave him a chance? Maybe he could be the Sas—man she has always dreamed of…But what if he wasn't? If it didn't work out, wouldn't she just hurt him more than she always had? Suddenly, Sai's words echoed through her ears.

"_But I think that you're the one who is hurting him the most."_

Learning about Sasuke's execution had taken more than a few tears out of her, and then she learned that she was unconsciously destroying her best friend at the same time. It just seemed so…fake. Why hadn't he ever told her about _his _pain—why did he let her constantly gone on and on about her own?! So many promises were made…just to keep her happy...

'_Naruto…'_ she thought softly, keeping her gaze low.

But, the worst part was, _somewhere_ deep, deep inside her, she _did_ know that she was hurting him. And when it was finally, bluntly told to her—she completely broke down, because she had already known.

'_What a way to break a person, Sai'_ she smiled bitterly, _'I'm sure that's one thing you have learned from your time with us...How to hurt someone.'_

Terribly.

Horribly…

…_Unconsciously._

-o-

Those few moments had seemed…fictitious.

Black.

Red.

Determined blue.

…

CHIDORI~~~RASENGAN

.boom.

…

"I-I _don't_ want to fight you…I _won't_ fight you—

teme."

…

**Screaming**

"_Get up and fight."_

"_I won't fight my brother!"_

A pale hand, surrounded by blue sparks pierces an orange, fabric covered body, cutting completely through the small, depleted ball of chakra.

"_I only had one brother—and his life was destroyed by _your _village!"_

"_You don't have to do this, Sasuke!"_

"_If you can't understand my hatred—_my pain_—how can you tell me that I don't have to do this?!"_

"…_because I do know._

_I know what it's like to lose someone you care about, someone who cared about you—someone who you _loved_! I feel your pain Sasuke! I finally understand you! …But this isn't how I handled it—and you shouldn't do this either! As long as you keep doing this—hurting other people—the cycle is never going to stop!"_

"_What the fuck are you talking about?"_

"_As long as you inflict pain, it comes back! It's a never ending cycle in the world of ninja!"_

"_Hn. Such strong sophisticated words coming from the mouth of the dead last…How foolish."_

The crimson splattered hand is replaced by a sharp, grey katana, causing the very amiable victim to gasp out in pain while clutching the sword.

…

Oceans meet space.

…

Onyx.

Crimson.

**Thrashing**

"_Listen to me Sasuke! You're stronger than that! Do you think that your clan, your parents—your brother— would want you to destroy yourself?! Don't you think that they would wish something better for their loved one?!_

_That twisted man, Madara told me everything! Wouldn't you rather honor their last wishes instead?!"_

"_Che. These people destroyed my _family—my clan! _They deserve to feel the pain that I have felt!"_

Tomaoes swirl viciously in a crimson pool.

"_Those are the eyes that supposedly see all eh?(cough, cough) The mangekyou (cough-blood splatters-cough) eyes that Madara talked about…Don't you have to kill your best friend to get those? 'Cause I'm right here—happy and (cough-choke-cough) healthy."_

Silence.

Only for a moment.

"_Hn. I cut my ties a long time ago—you're already dead to me."_

Katana shoves deeply through cut. More crimson blood pools around the two figures.

(cough-cough)

Obsidian.

Scarlett.

**Gurgling. Blood.**

"_Sasuke, you're stronger than that! You're not weak enough to stay in the past! I know you!_

_I-I-I_ (gurgle…more blood splashes.) _pr-promised Sa-Sa-Sa-kuura-chan that I'd bring you (cough)! An-and I nev-nev-never goooo backkk ooonnnn a _(final choke. Body falls to the ground with a thump.) _prooo-oommis……"_

"…_Che. I knew it. You're still weak. But still, I can't believe that the almighty _Naruto Uzumaki_ loss to me this fast. You're just like your pitiful village—_pathetic_."_

A pale foot, steps lightly onto the fallen body's fragile, broken arm. He adds more pressure when the body squirms, causing him to groan out in pain.

"_I'd kill you now—but I want you to watch me kill your precious _Hokage_. And then maybe I'll go back to the village and burn it down for dessert."_

His menacing glare caught the cerulean eyes of his former rival.

"_Yo-you hate sweets, _teme_." The fallen one chuckled bitterly. _

One perfectly shaped, obsidian eyebrow shot up. _"You still remember that…? Che. What a loser..._

_I changed my mind. You're much to irritating to carry around. For the sake of our old friendship—our cut off bond—I shall make this quick and easy."_

"_Sa-Sasuke, wait!" _

"…_Hn."_

Katana spirals down, with volts of electric blue sparks wrapping themselves around it, just waiting to pierce.

Penetrate.

Slice.

Kill.

**Destroy.**

"_You think that you know everything—you think that Madara has told you everything right?_

_Well, you're wrong! You don't know about Itachi's _REAL_ final wish—"_

Katana stops midair. Holder of katana waits for a reply…but there isn't on—

…BOOM…

-o-

A dark figure twitched uncomfortably under his oxygen mask, his forehead and eyes bandaged roughly. Blood soaked bangs are pushed to the side.

_Beep. _

_Beep._

_Beep._

The heart rate monitor displayed his pulse's significant drop.

No one had come to his room.

Not one person other than the—_forced_—medic had entered.

They had left him there all alone.

Purposely.

But his unconscious self hadn't taken notice…

…because it was currently blinded by the bleached, white light calling him.

-o-

Her small, nimble palm slowly reached up to the door knob. A dark lump gathered up in the core of her throat, cutting off her breath. Suddenly, a loud, very obnoxious voice echoed through the room.

"Where the hell am I, dattebayo?!"

She shook her head vigorously, forcing a strangled smile on her face

Why was she getting so paranoid? This was _Naruto_, her best friend! Naruto, who always did things for others, and never hurt his friends! There was absolutely no reason for the situation to become uncomfortable.

Smiling she slowly turned the door knob, only to be interrupted by a soft voice that she knew very well.

"Na-Naruto-kun…You're awake…"

"…_Hinata-chan?"_

_Nope. _

Nothing could make this uncomfortable.

"You were waiting here…for me?"

"…Yes."

The strangled smile fell from her face, as her pale palm slid off the knob. Her bangs fell over her eyes covering the saddened, jaded eyes. Stepping back slightly, she turned on her heel and through one last glance at the wooden door before walking down the hall once more. A bitter smile found her lips, as she reached the end of the hall leading into the corridor.

She had, had her chance and she blew it. Naruto belonged with Hinata—they deserved each other, and who was she to take away his happiness?

"_Because I love you!" _

Hinata's confession rang through her ears like chimes. A more pronounced grin graced her pink, lips as she stopped short.

"Hinata Uzumaki…It has a nice ring to it." She chuckled as she headed back to report to her master.

-o-

* * *

**Disclaimer:** _Sadly, I do not own anything Kishimoto owns. If I did…this story would be moving a lot faster._

**A/N:** Hey guys! How are you people?! So this is the second chapter of "Numb" and all. Okay, so this seems a little short, but this is supposed to be a continuation of the manga, and the manga is always leaving us off and making us pissed. Sorry, but I have to make it seem like the manga! You're free to flame, but it'll just count as one more review for me!

I know that many of you are like "WTF! I thought this was a SasuSaku fanfic" and well it **IS**. But this is a **realistic **(meaning manga like) fanfic, and Sakura has to sort out her feelings about Naruto. You shall get SasuSaku, but heed my warning-this is a **LONG fanfic** where it shows how love REALLY happens. If you want to stick through this story, I love you. Well, not really, but I am THANKFUl!

My BF and I were having a debate, and we came to realize that there isn't such a thing called "Love at first Sight" because people who say that only love them for his or her looks! You fall in love when you get to know who they are, and what they stand for-not just because of what they look like.

Besides, I'm writing this for my own enjoyment, but if anyone would like to make some kind suggestions, I'm all ears-uh, well in this case, it's eyes.

The song that I was listening to while writing this was **"Going Under"** by _Evanescence_.

Also, "The Ticket to Infinity" is also being worked on. And thank you so, so much for reviewing the last chapter!

**IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAKE ME HAPPY, AND YOU WANT THIS STORY TO BE UPDATED FASTER, PLEASE REVIEW!**

_-thenote_


End file.
